“We want our freedom!” Refugees resist in Berlin

For eight days, a small group of about forty refugees from different but mostly African countries have been occupying the roof of a vacant school building in Berlin’s Kreuzberg neighborhood. The former Gerhart Hauptmann School on Ohlauer Strasse had been home to more than two hundred people since October 2012, ever since a nationwide wave of refugee protests culminated in a six-hundred kilometer long protest march from the Bavarian town of Würzburg to the center of the country’s capital, Berlin. The refugees first set up camp at the central Oranienplatz, and later moved on to occupy the vacant school building where they were holding up, awaiting the slow processing of their asylum applications.

Last Tuesday, June 24, a police force of about 900 strong evicted the majority of the two hundred refugees who had sought shelter in the occupied school, but a group of between forty and eighty refugees and fellow-activists refused to leave the building, instead moving onto to the roof to resist their forced eviction. Some of the refugees have threatened to jump if the police moves in on the building. In the words of 32-year old Adam from Sudan: “There are some people here who have been waiting in centres around Europe for years only to have their asylum request rejected. They stand to lose everything – they’d rather jump off the building than get caught.”

The stand-off between the police, who have sealed off the neighborhood on several occasions during the last days, and the activists inside and outside the building continues. Throwing all feigned neutrality overboard, Berlin’s police union has openly pressured the local governor to give a green light for the eviction of the remaining occupiers. But while the area has been sealed off by 1,700 police officers, some armed with machine guns, there has been a great show of solidarity from neighborhood residents who have been breaking down barricades, as well as students and teachers who today launched a strike in support of the refugee struggle.

In a statement released by the refugees, they claim that the police have been depriving them of their sleep by banging on the doors and making statements in the middle of the night in an attempt to break their resistance. More shockingly, the refugees allege that the police has insulted them in more overtly racist ways as well, waving bananas at them from nearby rooftops. Under the slogan “You can’t evict a movement”, the refugees have been demanding the closure of Germany’s refugee camps, a halt to forced deportations, and the abolition of the mandatory residence permits that inhibit their freedom of movement.

The occupation of the Gerhart Hauptmann School is just the latest in a series of migrant and refugee struggles across Europe. Some of the most recent and most publicized cases include the resistance against the eviction of the tent camps in Calais; the migrants in Italy who sewed their mouths shut to protest against their poor treatment by immigration officials; the popular protests against racist attacks in Greece; the unrest surrounding the treatment of thousands of asylum seekers in Hamburg; and the Vluchtkerk (“Refugee Church”) in the Netherlands.

Refugees, immigrants and asylum-seekers coming to Europe are faced with increased threats and hostility from governments and society alike. Through populist media and right-wing political discourse they are depicted as parasites and bloodsuckers free-riding on “our” national wealth, without contributing anything. This kind of racist rhetoric is unfortunately characteristic of and inherent to a global economic system where capital and commodities move freely across borders, while new walls are being erected everywhere to halt the resulting flows of human beings. In times of crisis the “Other within” is an all too easy scapegoat for those who try to divert attention away from the real causes of the problems at hand.

Europe’s racist and antagonistic attitude towards the pleas of those who flee warzones, torture and execution, or towards those who are simply in search of a better life elsewhere, has become so widespread and generally accepted that even those political parties that originated from the Left are now actively partaking in the witch hunt against everyone who looks or sounds foreign. In Berlin, it is the Green Party that heads Kreuzberg’s local government and that today gave the order to evict the occupied school.

Currently, both the police presence and the number of activists in the area are increasing and tensions are rising. The outcome of this particular struggle is as of yet uncertain, but even in the unlikely event of a victory for the refugee activists there is little hope that it will change anything in the policies of the covertly racist governments or in the minds of those people who have been eagerly buying into the discriminatory rhetoric of the mainstream media and far-right politicians. However, even when the war is not likely to be won, every single battle is a potential victory. And much is at stake, in the words of one activist: “We don’t want houses, we don’t want hostels, we don’t want Lagers [camps]. We want our freedom!”

Latest updates on this story can be found at Revolution News’ website, or by following the hashtag #Ohlauer on Twitter.

Print & Digital subscriber

ROAR depends entirely on the support of its readers to be able to continue publishing. By becoming a ROAR patron, you enable us to commission content and illustrations for our online issues while taking care of all the basic expenses required for running an independent activist publication.

FAQ

How often do you publish?

We constantly publish web content and release thematic issues several times per year. The exact amount depends on how much support we receive from our readers. The more people sign up as patrons, the more resources we will have to commission content and pay a copy-editor to prepare everything for publication.

What are your issues like?

Think 30,000+ words of revolutionary brainfood. A dozen or more thought-provoking essays from some of the leading thinkers and most inspiring activists out there. Global challenges, grassroots perspectives, revolutionary horizons. Edited and illustrated to perfection by the ROAR collective.

How are your issues published?

Our issues are published online. We deliberately designed our website to perfect the online reading experience — whether you are on your laptop, tablet, phone or e-reader.

Do any of your issues also appear in print?

Issues #1 through #8 appeared in print. Back issues are still available in our webshop and can be ordered online. After Issue #8 all further issues will appear online only.

What is Patreon? And why do you use it?

We initially hosted subscriptions on our own website, but the admin and technical maintenance massively distracted us from our editorial tasks. Patreon offers a user-friendly alternative, allowing readers to pledge a monthly contribution and set their own amount — from each according to their ability!

How long will my patronage of ROAR last?

Patreon will charge your card monthly for the amount you pledged. You can cancel this pledge anytime.

Where will the money of my “patronage” go?

The proceeds from your monthly pledge will go directly towards sustaining ROAR as an independent publication and building our collective power as a movement.

No, but seriously, where does my money go?

ROAR is published by the Foundation for Autonomous Media and Research, an independent non-profit organization registered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. All editors and board members are volunteers. This allows us to spend all income from our Patreon account on sustaining and expanding our publishing project. Once we have paid for basic running costs like web hosting, the remaining proceeds will be invested in high-quality content and illustrations for future issues.

Does ROAR have any other sources of income?

In 2014, we raised about $10,000 in a crowdfunding campaign and we received a starting grant to complete our new website from the Foundation for Democracy and Media in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Beside the sale of back issues, our Patreon account is currently our only source of income, meaning we depend entirely on the solidarity of our readers to keep the publication going.

So why should I become a ROAR patron?

ROAR is not just another online magazine — it is a multimedia loudspeaker for the movements and an intellectual breeding ground for revolutionary ideas. When you pledge a monthly contribution you will not just receive early access to some of the freshest and most radical content on the web, but you will also help sustain a unique self-managed publishing project, strengthening the voices of activists around the world.